


The Adventures of J2 and Babysitting

by morganaDW (morgana07)



Category: CW Network RPF, Supernatural RPF
Genre: Cute Kids, Fluff, M/M, Protective Jared, Sappy, Schmoop, Slight Slash, Worried Jensen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-18
Updated: 2014-05-18
Packaged: 2018-01-25 14:33:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1652123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgana07/pseuds/morganaDW
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Gen's out of town Jared's got the boys. Expecting help from Jensen, he gets another surprise that reminds him that being the father of a two-year-old comes in handy...for the experience points at least.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Adventures of J2 and Babysitting

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Not many in this one as it's basically a fluffy piece. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is written for fun.
> 
> Author's Note: I don't write pure fluff often since it doesn't come easy so I hope this one turned out well. The plot bunny came from the Tweet Jared posted of him and the boys the other day & I was hit with the need to write about the guys and their kids.
> 
> Beta'd by cappy712.

** The Adventures of J2 and Babysitting **

“Thomas Colton Padalecki!” the sharp stern paternal shout had the little boy stopping in mid-motion as he was about to jump from the leather sofa.

He shot a bright innocent smile at his exasperated father. “Hi, Daddy!” his dimples were as huge as his father’s when his daddy smiled; which he wasn’t right at the moment. “Play?”

“Don’t you ‘Hi, Daddy’ me, kiddo,” Jared Padalecki pointed a finger to the sofa cushion as a way to order his oldest son to sit while scooping his youngest out of his playseat. The playseat that had been creatively arranged so if Thomas jumped it and the small child inside would be vaulted over onto the mass of pillows. “Uncle Chad’s been teaching you way too much so I’m banishing him from babysitting you guys anymore. Your brother is not to be used to play catapult, got it?”

“Shep…Super Baby?” Thomas’s eyes were bright with mischief as he was quick to scoot closer to where his father slumped on the sofa with the baby cradled in the crook of his other arm. “He can fly.”

“No, Chad is so not watching you anymore,” Jared decided firmly and swore to place a phone call to North Carolina to lecture his friend once he had the boys in bed. “Your mother fed you candy before she left. I know she did and now I know why Gram-ma was always so exhausted when I was your size.”

Filming on Supernatural wasn’t as exhausting or nerve-wrecking as watching a toddler and an infant by himself while his wife had to go visit a sick relative and since Jared wasn’t scheduled to be anywhere for at least two weeks he’d offered to watch the boys.

That was before he’d remembered that he’d never had to stay with both of his sons alone for more than a day and quickly realized he was going to be in over his head without backup. So enter best friend extraordinaire, co-star and so much more, Jensen Ackles, who’d offered to help him the following day…if Jared could survive the night.

“Play, Daddy?” Tom asked with a bright smile, small fingers playing with his baby brother’s toes until the baby was giggling without a care in the world. “Monster trucks?”

“Not this close to bath and bed,” Jared countered and then worked to ignore the big sad eyes that were aimed at him and wondered if his son had picked those up by osmosis since the young man he played on TV certainly had used that same look to get his way more than once. “We’re going to the park and zoo with Uncle Jensen tomorrow so you need to be up bright and early.”

At the mention of his Dad’s best friend and his surrogate Uncle Tom’s eyes widened as he began to bounce on the sofa with typical two-year-old excitement. “JJ?” he asked. The little boy had grown out of his jealousy of his beloved Uncle’s little girl and now loved to see and play with the soon to be one year old girl.

“No, JJ’s with her Momma right now but probably soon,” Jared knew Jensen wasn’t thrilled with still being apart from his daughter and had told his friend to just go back to LA like he always did during breaks but Jensen had returned to Vancouver after the last convention with the excuse that he was trying to coax his wife up to Canada more.

Of course the 6’4” Texas native realized that plan probably wasn’t going to work because while Genevieve was more willing to live between Vancouver and Austin his co-star’s wife wasn’t as easy to compromise with which saddened Jared. He knew how much Jensen loved Justice Jay and wanted to spend more time with her but he also knew of another reason Jensen wasn’t as willing to return to LA like he had once.

He was trying to decide which child to bathe first when his cellphone took off ringing with a tone set for one person in particular so while deflecting Tom’s chocolate covered fingers, though Jared was at a loss for how he’d gotten covered in the stuff, from going for Austin’s head he grabbed the phone.

“Hey, I was just telling Tommy about the zoo with his favorite uncle…assuming I can keep him from slinging his brother across the living room,” Jared smirked as his oldest slid down lower to offer a cute little pout. “Jen?” he frowned when all he heard was an uneasy silence. “You there?”

“Uhhh, yeah,” Jensen Ackles’ normally smooth deep voice sounded distracted, stressed in a way that Jared only heard rarely. “Might have hit a snag on that plan, Jay.”

Jared shifted so he could lay his squirming baby back in his bouncy seat while shooting Tom a warning look to not even think of anything that would end with the baby either on the floor or the ceiling fan. “What’s…” he started to ask what was wrong when a sudden noise behind his friend made him blink. “Is that JJ?” he asked as he easily recognized the crying child’s voice and felt an odd lump in his stomach.

“Yeah,” Jensen came back while trying to shush the crying little girl. “Jared…”

“Are…are you in LA?” Jared asked hesitantly, confused since he’d just spoken with Jensen that morning on his way home from the gym and the older actor hadn’t said anything about flying out to head to California.

“Nope, still five blocks away,” Jensen returned and the sound of crying picked up as he must have picked JJ up while he still held the phone.

Okay, so that made a much different lump form in Jared’s gut. “So…is Danneel up to visit?” he asked with careful neutralism since Gen was fond of saying that Jared didn’t always hide his quiet dislike of Jensen’s wife and her inability to compromise well.

“Nope,” came the instant reply, but this time there was the hint of amusement in the stressed out voice.

“Jen? Can you explain this to me in more than one word answers, dude?” Jared was now lost, whirling to grab a hold of his son by the back of his shirt before he could climb over the back of the sofa. “Why’s JJ with you if Danneel isn’t around and what’s wrong that you sound ready to climb outta your skin?”

“Reunion party for the cast of One Tree Hill or something so she said I could babysit JJ for the weekend,” Jensen bounced his crying daughter as he paced his living room while fighting the urge to call his mother. “As for what’s wrong, my little girl is crying her eyes out and her inept father has no clue what’s wrong since I’ve done everything I know to make her stop and nothing is working, Jay,” he told him, sounding ready to cry himself. “I’ve fed her, changed her, and burped her. I’ve tried to play with her. I’ve sang to her, shut up, and she just keeps crying. You’ve survived Tom at this age so before I call my mother in defeat I figured I’d call on you oh wise and humble father of two in the hope that you know the magic words to help me out here.”

Jared’s smile was gentle and understanding as he recalled his panic when Tom was growing and every new thing had terrified him while Gen had merely smiled and his mother had laughed at him for calling her every 10 minutes.

“Jen, get some stuff together and bring JJ over here,” he replied, hearing the strain his friend was under and fully got it. He also figured between the two of them that they could survive 3 kids…he hoped. “It’d be easier for you to come here than for me to pack Tom, Austin and their stuff up to come over to your place and you know that’s what I’ll do if you won’t bring her here.”

“What if she’s sick?” Jensen countered in typical first time father fear, looking into his daughter’s red cheeked face. “Her face is all red and…”

“She’s not sick, Jen,” Jared was confident of that, adding quickly. “Her face is probably red from crying plus she’s got your temper so…”

“Oh, insult me now,” Jensen was calming down despite JJ’s crying, feeling helpless at her little sniffles. “You wanna go see Uncle Jay, baby girl?” he asked the bright eyed baby whose soft red hair was out of its bow from her tiny fingers messing with it. “See Tommy and Austin?”

Jensen would later swear his daughter’s cries lessened at that so he took that as a sign to give in and take Jared up on his offer. “You sure about this, Jared?” he asked, hating to impose since he knew Jared had his hands full already. “I don’t want to add more than…”

“Ackles, get your…butt over here before I come and get you two myself,” Jared returned and then dropped his tone a little. “Jen…come over. There’s no since of us both being alone and besides…there’s strength in numbers and right now I’m outnumbered.”

“You’re moose-sized according to Mark and yet you’re letting a two-year old and a baby gang up on you,” Jensen had already decided to go and was packing some stuff in a bag while cradling JJ against his shoulder. “Gen’s half your size and handles them both daily. Twitter-crazed fans don’t bother you but those two do.”

“Hey, my youngest can fly…or so his brother said right before he tried to launch him across the living room like a rock in a catapult,” Jared tossed back in defense of himself and happened to look down to be sure that said child wasn’t going for a repeat performance.

Jensen halted in mid-packing to frown. “I’ll be there in less than 15 minutes,” he decided and knew who’d given the boy that idea. “And that is why Chad Michael Murray will never get within 50 feet of you, little girl,” he sighed.

Clicking his phone off Jared turned to look at his curious son and smiled. “Well, it looks like we get to help Uncle Jensen with JJ after all,” he laughed as Tom’s dimples busted out with his excited shout.

By the time the knock came on the front door, Jared had managed to give Austin a bath and dressed in his soft blue pajamas. Since Tom always took longer and more attention he chose to wait a bit longer for that job and because he knew his son would want to see JJ before bathtime.

Opening his front door Jared’s lips curved into a slow soft welcoming smile as he took in his friend’s stressed, tired, scruff covered face as well as the half asleep but still whining little girl cuddled against his chest as Jensen automatically bounced her.

“You look worse than she does, Jen,” Jared pushed his basic first reaction to the side in favor of taking the unhappy child out of her father’s arms to jiggle her before settling her into the crook of his arms like he would his own boys. “Did Danneel say if she was acting up for her or anything?” he asked but already had a hunch what the problem was.

Stepping into the foyer to close the door, Jensen dropped the baby bag with a sigh; shaking his head. He watched Jared hold and make faces at JJ while bending down to pick Tom up when he came running. “No and when I called her she said it was probably just that she’s tired but this doesn’t sound like a tired cry. Hey there big guy,” he grinned as Tom’s arms went around his neck before the little boy rubbed his cheek over Jensen’s scruffy one to giggle.

“She’s tired from crying so much but that’s not what’s bothering our little Princess is it, sweetheart?” Jared smiled into JJ’s eyes as she stared up at him with her little hands reaching out to try to grab for his longer hair. “She’s drooling,” he smiled at his friend’s blank look and knew Jensen was as blank as he was to what that meant. “She’s teething, Jen. JJ’s got another tooth coming in so her poor little gums are hurting. Did she bring a teething ring or something you put in the freezer for her to gum on?”

Jensen stared at his best friend as if he’d just solved the biggest riddle in the galaxy before he thought, setting Tom on his feet to begin to dig through the bag only to frown. “It doesn’t look like it,” he sighed, disgusted at how unprepared he was to take care of something so simple. “She cut her first two while we were filming so…”

“No big deal. I’m sure we have an unused one around here but for tonight, just to give her and you some relief we’ll take a shortcut,” Jared winked at the child as he tested his theory by placing his index finger just inside her mouth to lightly run the tip over her gums and wasn’t shocked when JJ quieted from a cry to a whine or when he felt the start of not one but two new teeth. “Popsicles always worked on Meg and Mom gave ‘em to Tom when he was teething one time so I think that’ll work on Miss Justice Jay.”

“Jay,” Tom repeated happily since he either called the girl JJ or Jay. Tonight as he proudly held onto Jensen’s finger as they followed Jared through the large house to the kitchen he looked up at his father, his open and curious face scrunched up like when he was thinking really hard. “Daddy…Jay too?” he looked up at his favorite uncle with a bright innocent smile.

As Jensen blinked Jared paused in reaching into the freezer for an orange Popsicle; an unusual burst of nerves humming through him.

The choice of JJ’s middle name had caused rampant speculation within the online community and also within the cast and crew of Supernatural or at least with those who knew the nickname Jensen used for him.

Jared had easily and wisely laughed it off by replying that several of his co-stars older friends still often called him by the name as well so that’s why he’d chosen it to go with his daughter’s unique first name. At least that was his reply in public. In private it was still up in the air since Jensen merely would look at him with that casual little smirk like Jared should know the answer without asking.

Now as he watched Jensen kneel so he was more on Tom’s level Jared felt the same flutter in his belly that he’d gotten the first time Jensen had given him that one certain look and caught his breath while placing the icy tip of the frozen treat against JJ’s lips so she could begin to gum it while soothing her enflamed gums.

“Yeah, I call your Daddy ‘Jay’ too at times,” Jensen’s fingers brushed over the boy’s soft fluffy hair that was rapidly changing colors each day but was just as unruly as his father’s. “It could be that’s why I gave that name to JJ too,” he lifted his eyes to meet and hold Jared’s, lips curving into the one slow smile that not everyone got to see on the man as silent understanding passed between them. Then Jensen noticed the sticky fingers and chocolate smears on Tom’s face and grinned in amusement. “You want to trade me kids? I’ll try to keep her calm while you give the Chocolate Kid a bath?”

Jared chuckled; nodding and started to shift JJ to pass her back to her Dad when the little girl suddenly decided that she didn’t want to be moved around as he latched onto a handful of Jared’s hair while letting out a cry that was more objection to losing her new hero than her earlier discomfort.

“Or…you could give Tommy his bath while I take care of Princess JJ,” Jared grinned as Jensen lifted his eyebrows in mock shock at his daughter choosing the guy with the popsicle over her own father. “She can bunk with Austin in his crib once she falls to sleep.”

“It looks like it’s you and me against a tub full of rubber ducks, Tom,” Jensen scooped the boy up just because he knew it would make him laugh but he paused to press a soft kiss to his now calm and content daughter’s nose, lifting his green eyes up as his free hand brushed up Jared’s arm casually. “If we’re not back in an hour you know we lost the war.”

“I’ll call in favors and send a bunch of angels in after you,” Jared grinned. He could hear his son chattering happily to Jensen as they headed up the steps to do battle but as the young father knew only too well it would probably end up with his friend losing the war because Tom was like a fish once he hit water.

Jared looked into bright and happy eyes much like Jensen’s to grin. “Daddy had better have brought himself extra clothes cause he’s gonna end up soaked, JJ,” he told her and then laughed at her drooling giggle.

Glad that he’d left the baby tub set up from his younger son’s bath, Jared was able to distract JJ with faces and funny voices while he got her cleaned up, dried off and dressed in a soft pink set of footie pajamas with teddy bears on them.

The crib in Austin’s room was plenty big enough for both children as they’d shared it before on visits and naps so Jared had just settled a warm and cuddly, not to mention sleepy, JJ down under her own blanket when he heard the sounds of scampering feet on the floor in the hall and guessed that bath time hadn’t taken as long as he thought it would.

“I froze her pacifier in case she needs it later but right now she’s chewing on her bunny in her sleep,” Jared knew without looking that Jensen was close by; it was a thing they seemed to be able to do with one another. “Have I told you lately that she really is a gorgeous little girl and that you are so lucky?”

“I’m lucky because I’ve got a wonderful daughter, good friends, an awesome job and someone I’m crazy about to share it all with,” Jensen murmured as he stepped up beside Jared so they could both look in on the two small kids who were both sleeping peacefully.

Jared smirked. “I’m sure Danneel is thrilled about that too,” he deadpanned; his usual defense when it got to be this close and he was unsure what footing to take.

“I’m sure she is too but you better know that I wasn’t talking about her,” Jensen’s tone dropped to a slightly huskier one; the one used when it was just them as his fingers reached unerringly for the hand that met his automatically. “Just like you better know why I gave my daughter the middle name I did.”

The warmth in both Jensen’s hand and voice made Jared smile, closing his eyes for a moment to let those feelings wash over him like he did at times when he needed the reassurance that they were making the right choices.

“I know, Jen,” he murmured quietly, letting their fingers lace together for a long moment as both men shared this quiet time until they both heard a thud from down the hall and Jared was reminded that when his oldest boy was quiet for too long that it normally wasn’t a good thing. “They do grow out of the phase where it’s fun to give their parents strokes…right?” he asked hopefully.

“My mother says she’ll let me know when it happens with me,” Jensen replied with a friendly smile, content and at ease now that he knew he hadn’t broken his child so he clapped Jared on the shoulder. “C’mon, let’s go put your kid to bed before he literally starts to try to climb something. Oh…and you’re not letting Murray watch him anymore, right?”

“Oh, hell no,” Jared snorted, firm on this matter as he pulled the door to Austin’s room closed quietly as to not wake either him or JJ just as Jensen reached out to snatch a running Tom who was clad in only half his clothes. “I’d sooner have Tom watch Chad and he will never get close to Austin. I’d rather leave my kids with Sebastian.”

Jensen nearly choked on that, but recovered while putting a laughing Tom up on his shoulders for the walk back to his room. “We’ll need to talk about that plan, Jay,” he decided with a grin then considered something. “I’m not sure if taking JJ to the park or zoo’s a good idea if she’s teething. She’ll cry and that’ll upset Austin and…”

“No, because we’ll keep some frozen teething rings in a little freezer pouch. So long as she has something to chew on she’ll be good,” Jared was certain of this, turning to throw his bright-eyed little boy a knowing look as he reached up to take him from Jensen’s shoulders. “And I don’t mean your brother so let’s not try to put Austin’s fingers into JJ’s mouth, okay?”

“Yeah, Daddy,” Tom smiled, giving his Daddy and favorite Uncle hugs before settling into his bed with his stuffed toys. “Night, Daddy,” he yawned. “Night Unca Jensen.”

“Night, Tom,” Jensen grinned as he watched Jared followed Tom’s usual bedtime routine before stepping into the hall to lean against the wall with a sigh. “When’s Gen coming back?”

Jared closed his eyes, suddenly worn out and it had only been one day. “Sunday,” he replied, prying one eye open to peer at his friend. “You hungry? We can eat cold pizza and try to stay awake to play some X-box or bug Misha on Twitter or…”

“Or you can fall face first into your bed before you fall to sleep standing up,” Jensen chuckled and gently turned Jared toward the Master Bedroom. “I’m going to check on JJ one more time and then go do the same on the sofa downstairs. We have a busy day ahead if you seriously plan to take these three to the zoo.”

“You know I do have a couple guest rooms up here you can use,” Jared commented, exhausted to the point he was barely aware of when Jensen sat him on the bed. “And an extra baby monitor so you can hear if either of the kids wake up during the night.”

Jensen had known Jared long enough, had been in this position enough times to know his friend was practically talking in his sleep by this point as he knelt to pull his boots off; hands on Jared’s knees as he balanced himself while leaning closer.

“Yeah, and we both know why I won’t use one of the guest rooms tonight,” he brought his lips to within a half inch of Jared’s before shifting to let them graze his temple. “It’d be too easy for us both to land in bed together and we agreed to keep that to when we’re alone.”

“We are alone,” Jared heard the whine but ignored it in favor of trying to convince Jensen to give in even though he knew the older man wouldn’t. “Yeah, I know. We’re not technically alone and Tom’s smart enough to put things together.”

It was times like this that the other side of his more than close friendship with his co-star could be hard to handle because Jared missed Jensen when they weren’t attached at the hip like they were during filming or at conventions.

Jared knew he’d never trade his boys for anything in the world and he knew Jensen felt the same for JJ, but it wasn’t always easy to balance it all. Especially on nights like this when he was tired and missing his friend even though he was so close and yet so far away.

“After Dani picks JJ up and Gen’s home you can come over and help me move furniture or something equally heavy that I logically need those long arms for,” Jensen carded his fingers back through long thick dark hair, curving his fingers down under Jared’s chin to tilt it up slightly so he could offer a whisper soft kiss over his lips before whispering in his ear and seeing Jared’s smile. “Go to sleep now and I’ll see you in the morning.”

Jared was asleep nearly as soon as he hit the pillow. He dreamed pleasantly and with full confidence that between them he and Jensen could tackle three kids and a day out.

When the front door opened on Sunday evening as Genevieve Padalecki arrived home expecting to find a small mess considering her husband could often be as big a kid as their sons she stopped dead in the doorway leading to the living room to take in the scene before her.

The evidence of a day at the zoo and also the park could be seen scattered all over the place as were most of the boys toys from the playroom upstairs but what truly stopped her wasn’t the mess that would make their part-time housekeeper cringe. What stopped the petite dark haired actress/wife/mother was the sight of the two grown men sound asleep on the floor with a sleeping Austin and a half way asleep JJ between them while Tom was sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed and playing quietly on his own tablet as if sitting guard.

“Hi, Mama,” he greeted with a wave and then he was sliding off the sofa, careful to avoid stepping on his father’s head when he did so to run to his mother. He held a finger to his lips. “Shhh. Daddy and Uncle Jensen are sleeping.”

The little boy took her hand to lead her around a giant moose and several other stuffed toys. “Zoo and park and…JJ…ate popsicles and…”

Making sense of that told Gen that the boys must have taken the kids to the zoo and the park and as she took in the freezer full of pink teething rings and pacifiers. Gen guessed the little girl must be cutting more teeth and just hoped the two adults had fed the kids more than popsicles and junk the past few days.

Gen considered waking her husband but as Tom carefully crawled into the pile of sleeping bodies, wrapping the fingers of one hand into the collar of his Dad’s t-shirt and used the other hand to latch onto Jensen the young woman didn’t have the heart.

Instead she quietly worked to pick up her youngest and JJ without waking either baby or their respective father’s to put them in Austin’s crib after changing them both and then covered her oldest son, her husband and the man she knew would always be in Jared’s heart with a large blanket.

“I’ll make them clean this mess up in the morning,” she decided and then headed upstairs to place a call to JJ’s mother to fill her in and see if she knew what the boys had been up to over the weekend.

**The End**

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it, fluff and all, lol.


End file.
